Trump's big warning: 'All federal funding will stop for any school, college that allows...'

US President Donald Trump has issued a ban on what he referred to as "illegal protests", insisting that schools or colleges that experience these protests will lose all federal funding. Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will cut funding for schools that allow "illegal protests," his latest threat to turn off the flow of federal money to the country's education system.

Trump has made it clear in the past that protests against him are not appreciated, despite he and party's insistence on the importance of free speech in the US. The Republican has previously threatened to cut government funds to US colleges, schools and universities over teachings on gender and race, if they allow transgender athletes to compete on girls' sports teams, or if they insist on Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

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Trump's big warning on protests

Trump took to his own social media site Truth Social to share quite a chilling statement, where he warned that students caught taking part in these protests would be expelled or arrested, while also mentioning that "agitators will be permanently sent back to the country from which they came".

"All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!" he added.

In the past, Trump has repeatedly threatened to turn the US education system upside down. He has threatened to defund the entire Department of Education and return all control over the curriculum to individual states.

His statement came after US campuses were roiled last year by student protests against Israel's war in Gaza, which ignited accusations of anti-Semitism.

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On Monday the US government said it was considering scrapping more than more than $50 million in contracts with New York's Columbia University over allegations it failed to protect Jewish students.

The prestigious Ivy League school found itself at the center of the firestorm last year.

The protests culminated in Congress grilling higher education leaders about accusations of anti-Semitism and whether enough was being done to keep Jewish students safe.

Trump set up a task force last month aimed at combatting what it said was anti-Semitism in schools that is reviewing federal grants to Columbia, Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said.

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"Americans have watched in horror for more than a year now, as Jewish students have been assaulted and harassed on elite university campuses," she said.

Schools receiving federal funds "have a responsibility to protect all students," she added, arguing that Columbia's "apparent failure to uphold their end of this basic agreement raises very serious questions about the institution's fitness to continue doing business with the United States government."

(With AFP inputs)